Not enough cash to charge suspects

Before a suspect is interviewed the police will usually disclose the basic facts of a case to the suspect's solicitor, which is one of the best reasons for having a solicitor by the way!

There are rumours flying about that the CPS are refusing to authorise charges of suspects because of budget constraints - I most recently heard this the weekend before last at a party from a Met police officer and again last Friday from a BTP police officer at a Chas and Dave concert (I have high musical tastes!)

Consider this piece of disclosure in a theft case, "LBH have produced CCTV evidence which shows the offence... The defendant is currently on bail for two like offences... [and] has 14 previous convictions for theft offences..." The disclosure also makes the point that a CCTV operator witnessed the offence as it happened, which is how the police came to be called.

I cannot comment about whether the CPS are deliberately refusing to charge, but in this case the CPS refused to charge and the matter was "no further actioned".

Contrary to poplar belief, lawyers do not exist in a vacuum so for a lawyer to jump on anything they need a member of the public to instruct them to bring the action. There was a case brought in the late 80s by the family of one of the victims of the Yorkshire Ripper in which the family said the police had failed to protect the individual victims. The court effectively said that the police did not owe a duty of care to every individual against a particular offender. I suspect that if someone sued for the authorities failing to protect victims the outcome would be similar.

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I am a solicitor-advocate who specialises in motoring law with a particular interest in representing clients who have been charged with criminal driving offences involving alcohol, such as drink driving and failing to provide a specimen of breath.